Matt Hughes won his first UFC title more than a decade ago by slamming Carlos Newton unconscious at UFC 34. Caught in a triangle choke prior to the finishing slam, Hughes was dazed and confused, taking a few moments to realize that he had just won the UFC welterweight championship, but it eventually set in and kicked off a legendary career.

If you were there, watch the video to relive it. If you weren’t, you don’t want to miss one of the most memorable finishes in UFC history.

Revisit the fight with Matt Hughes as he, Dana White, and Pat Miletich recount the bout that lead to a UFC Hall of Fame career…

Matt had a huge career, and clearly dominated in the rematch. But watching that I still feel like he went out to the choke and fell on Newton.

el che

“and he was out…” and so were you, Matt. Big John even later admitted that, at the time, he did not know the protocol of what to do in such a situation. hence, the first to recover was deemed the victor.

Darin

Hughes didn’t “slam” $#it. Carlos choked him out standing, Matt went out and fell, dropping Carlos onto his head. They both went out, but because Hughes was face down and Carlos was staring into space, the ref picked Carlos as the loser.
No knocks on Hughes though, he’s a great fighter who has dished out many brutal slams in his career.

Cptmats

“Hughes didn’t “slam” $#it. Carlos choked him out standing, Matt went out and fell”

100% Agreed. The fight was already over when Newton’s head hit the Canvas, It was over the second Hughes started to fall !

Swamp Donkey

Don’t worry, Newton got a rematch, and he lost that too.

Marcus Miles

Yeah because when your choked out and unconscious, you can still make the contuse decision to slam someone right. There was generated force with that slam and gravity played a secondary role not primary. Either opinion donsnt matter, Carlos was damaged more than Matt.

http://www.facebook.com/candas.hall Candas Hall

But he slammed many more after him.

Ksmma

Matt may not have known where he was when he got up….. But he did slam newton, Just listen to him hit the ground. Matt was dazed but newton was ktfo. Matt wins. A country boy can survive a triangle….. Just not a GSP armbar.

basbylivershot

should be a double ko!!!

Jon

i really didn’t see a locked in triangle, such as Silva vs. Sonnen

justin_e

He was out. He lost that fight.

Victored

He was so out of it… it should have been a draw hahaha… big John woke him up though.. Matt claiming he slammed him… Darin was right.. he was asleep just ended up dropping Carlos. Carlos just decided to hold his breath vs relaxin hahaha.. OUT!

Nicain

This is that fight where Hughes went out cold and woke up the champion right?

Yeah..

Viewer from Finland

Even Matt himself say when he´s sitting on top off the cage that “I WAS OUT”

justin_e

Very bad call. They didn’t show the best angle in this video but hughes lost that fight. He was choked out, then fell. It should have been called for Newton. The he lost the rematch anyway.

ned sto

Matt was clearly unconscious after the slam, as was Carlos. Tough on the spot call for the ref. That’s not even something you prepare for in a hypothetical situation. Nearly unimaginable. You can’t really fault him for that, the incident was unprecedented.

Fortunately for Big John the rematch squashed any doubts who the champion was. If Newton would have beat Hughes in dominant fashion in the rematch it would have been more of a controversial mess than it is.

David Huenecke

Matt even said he was out. Carlos choked him out he fell and the impact knocked out carlos and woke matt up. It was a great fight and i agree with the decision as matt was the winner since he was awake when the ref seperated them.

Chris M

that was even a slam he dropped him! he didnt even kno what happened bc he was sleeping!!